Green Party Watch

The Free and Equal Elections Foundation has issued a statement on the Texas Democratic Party’s attempt to remove Green Party candidates from the ballot. Free and Equal gathered many of the signatures that helped the Texas Green Party qualify its slate of candidates for the ballot.

AUSTIN, Texas – The Green Party of Texas has been facing Democratic Party lawyers and court challenges to their ballot access for the November election and The Texas Supreme Court released a ruling, July 2, 2010, that denied Democratic Party efforts to block statewide Green Party candidates from participating in this election.

Christina Tobin, founder and chair of Free and Equal Elections Foundation, congratulates the Green Party of Texas on their win in the Texas Supreme Court to place their statewide candidates on the ballot.

Covering the battle between the Green Party of Texas and the Democratic Party over ballot access, The Wall Street Journal released three articles: “Texas Democrats See Red Over Green Party’s Ballot Coup,” published June 15; “Texas Green Party Appeals Ballot Decision,” published June 28; and the latest article, “Texas Green Party Gets Favorable Ruling,” published July 2.

“Texas has unfair ballot access laws for independent and alternative parties, like the Green Party of Texas,” Tobin said. “In addition to unfair ballot access laws, the Democratic Party is not acting democratic with this effort to reduce voter choices. The Democratic Party is showing a pattern of anti-democratic behavior in Texas and across this country that all voters should be paying attention to. I know first-hand how Ralph Nader’s candidacies faced attacks from organized Democratic Party efforts paid for by their typical corporate funders. It is a shame that the Texas Democrats are playing the same legal games.” read more »

Free and Equal and the Green Party of Texas have issued a joint statement on the media reports concerning the state party’s ballot access petition drive and Free and equal’s involvement in making it happen.

Free and Equal Issues Statement in Response to Recent Texas Media Reports

Free and Equal Elections is proud to stand next to the Green Party of Texas today to release this joint statement concerning Texas media reports involving Boyd Ritchie’s anti-democratic attack on the Green Party’s recent petition drive in Texas.

The statement from Free and Equal Founder and Chair Christina Tobin follows:

“Boyd Ritchie’s anti-democratic and anti-choice actions are shameful for a party leader. Free and Equal is a non-partisan organization that helps all parties, and Ritchie appears to have gone hysterical because a Green got on the Texas ballot this week. Ballot access and campaign finance are two completely different things. Ritchie is acting like a hot-headed party boss, not a party leader who deserves respect.”

“In Ritchie’s attempt to inflict harm on the Green Party, he will also harm voters by reducing their choices on Election Day. It’s a shame he would go to such lengths to keep a candidate from running, just because they aren’t a member of his party.” read more »

From Free & Equal:

Leaders from Washington State’s Third Party Coalition released a statement today urging California voters to vote no on Proposition 14. The coalition is comprised of the American Heritage Party, Constitution Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, and Progressive Party.

Here is the full text of the statement:

The Top Two Primary System in Action — The Experience of Third Parties in Washington State read more »

From the Green Party of Texas:

MEDIA ADVISORY
Green Party of Texas to Hold Press Conference

Turning in of Over 90,000 Petition Signatures
to Secretary of State on Monday

WHEN
Monday, May 24, 2:00 p.m.
Signatures will be turned in immediately after the press conference.

WHERE
Outside the Secretary of State’s office, Rusk Building
208 East 10th Street, 3rd Floor, Austin

WHAT
The Green Party of Texas will turn in over 90,000 signatures on Monday, in an effort to get the Party on the General Election ballot this November. If accepted, this will be the first time the Green Party has had ballot access since 2002. read more »

In a press release sent to Green Party Watch the Free and Equal Elections Foundation announced plans to hold a debate in Illinois’ gubernatorial race this Friday, October 9th. Christina Tobin is Chairman and founder of the organization.

“This debate will be unique in that ALL the candidates are invited to participate, not just the Democrats and Republicans.” said Tobin.”We are excited that voters all across Illinois will have the opportunity to hear the candidates speak in person, or online via web stream.”

The full text of the press release is below the fold. read more »

Your News Now Rochester has reported that Rochester business owner Alex White, who had filed over 1500 signatures to run for mayor on the Green Party line, was thrown off the ballot after the Democratic Party challenged his signatures and convinced the Board of Elections to reject over 400 signatures. With White off the ballot, the incumbent Democratic mayor Bob Duffy will be unopposed for reelection.

The Green Party of Monroe County replied to the Democratic petition challenge with a post entitled “Call Democrats and demand your democracy back”.

Transpartisan ballot access crusaders Free And Equal mentioned the undemocratic behavior of the Rochester Democrats in a press release entitled “Democrats, Republicans attempt to limit voter choice in New York State”. [sorry, as a registered NY voter, can't resist an editorial comment: WHAT A SHOCK!]

From FreeAndEqual.org:

Free & Equal Elections is a truly trans-partisan organization dedicated to ensuring that ALL candidates have a spot on the ballot, regardless of political ideology.

We have been traveling across the country to meet with like-minded activists who are dedicated to breaking the two-party stranglehold on our electoral process. We continue to use this outreach to help plan our all-out legislative assault on restrictive ballot access laws.

After attending Freedom Fest in Las Vegas two weekends ago, and the Libertarian National Committee meeting in St. Louis this past weekend, Free & Equal Elections will be in North Carolina for the National Meeting of the Green Party. There, we will meet with members of the Green Party and compare strategies for ballot access. read more »

Sounds simple enough. Elections should be free…or at least access to the electoral process should be…and all candidates should be treated equally.

Sadly, as articles posted here yesterday show, that is not always the case.

For many years the website Ballot Access News was the nation’s sole source of consistent and balanced news about election access and fairness. While that site remains the most complete and best documented source for such news, another effort has taken shape to bring even more attention to these issues so fundamental to our democratic process.

Free and Equal benefits from having Ballot Access News editor Richard Winger on their board, but they do provide additional information, which we will be sharing with you here at Green Party Watch. To read a few of their articles simply click on this article’s headline. In the meantime, do yourself and democracy a bit of a favor and subscribe to Ballot Access News’ print edition. It’s chock full of information, and exceptionally readable.

read more »